Class XII private candidates left in limbo as there is no clarity in the exam dates

Sources from the Directorate of Government Examination said that about 13,000 private candidates had registered to appear for the Class XII exam this year. In addition, little over 20,000 candidates had registered to appear for arrear papers. Similarly, of the total candidates, about 300 prison inmates were also enrolled for the Class XII board exams.

With regard to the private candidates, the State government on Saturday said that Class XII exams will be conducted for the private students only after the restoration of normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

A senior official from the School Education Department said that the government cannot declare all pass for private candidates since marks cannot be calculated from previous exams. "Some candidates might have appeared directly for Class XII board exams skipping Class eleven annual exams", he added.

However, academicians say that pursuing higher education for private candidates, who were enrolled for Class XII exams, would be affected since they might lose one academic year if the exams were conducted late for them Pointing out that most of the private students, who were enrolled for board exams, will be employed due to poor economical family background and therefore, they were forced to opt-out from schools, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association president P K Ilamaran urged the State government to announce a suitable solution to conduct the exam at the earliest.

"Since the number of private candidates appearing for board exams is less compared to regular students and therefore conducting exams will not be a big issue for the government as the normalcy from the pandemic situation is getting restored", he added.

Stating that exam dates were yet to announce, an official from the Labour Department too said that private candidates will lose seniority compared to regular candidates when it comes to the registration of Class XII certificates in the employment exchange.

S Karthikeyan, a private candidate registered for the Class XII board exam, said "I was about the enroll in open university to pursue BA degree in correspondence since I am employed in a PSU organisation in Chennai. The class XII marks and enrollment in the college would get me a promotion in my company. However, it would be delayed as there is no clue when the exams will be held".